Principles to Practice in Teaching Reading

Jennifer Bixby Joe McVeigh

CATESOL Santa Clara, CA April 24, 2010

Schema building

What are your top 3 principles for teaching reading?

Principles of teaching reading:

an overview

1. Develop word recognition skills

2. Move from sentence-level to discourse-level processing

3. Develop lessons structured around preduringand postreading activities

4. Use both intensive and extensive reading

5. Increase Rate reading speed

6. Focus attention on vocabulary development skills

7. Explicitly teach strategies

8. Develop and maintain motivation

9. Move towards learner autonomy

Principles of teaching reading:

an overview

How readers construct meaning

Bottom-up processing

Bottom-up processing Starting from sounds and letters to make meaning Identifying words and structures Focus on vocabulary, grammar, organization Can include text features such as title, subtitles, text types

Top-down processing

Top-down processing Comprehension resides in the reader Reader uses background knowledge and makes predictions Teacher focus is on meaninggenerating activities (Anderson 2008)

Interactive processing

Interactive processing Readers use bottom-up and topdown processes simultaneously Higher and lower-level processes influence each other (Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009)

Bottom up, top down, or interactive?

1. Schema-building to activate background knowledge 2. Learn new words before reading 3. Study how passive voice is used in a story. 4. Underline a grammar structure or verb tense 5. Read for overall meaning, not stopping for unfamiliar words 6. Write a paragraph using information from two different texts.

Principle: Develop lessons structured around preduringand postreading activities

Pre-reading activity: Schema building

Pre-reading activity:

Previewing the text

Preview the Reading

You are going to read a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) webpage from a health Website about the flu. FAQ sheets state commonly asked questions about a topic, followed by the answers. What symptoms of the flu do you know?
Flu FAQ Flu season is coming! Are you prepared? Here are answers to your questions! What is the flu? The flu, short for influenza, is a virus that passes easily from person to person. Every year, millions of people miss work and school because of the seasonal flu. Seasonal flu exists worldwide. Usually the flu season is in the winter months, but in warm climates, the flu occurs during the rainy season. What are the symptoms of the flu? The symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. These symptoms usually show up quickly, developing within three to six hours of exposure to the virus. With the flu, you may start the day feeling fine, only to end up feeling terrible a few hours later. Whats the difference between the flu and a cold? Both are respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. Although the symptoms can be similar, flu symptoms are more severe and include a high fever and body aches. Cold symptoms include a runny or stuffy nose and a cough. You may have a slight fever with a cold, but in general, cold symptoms are milder and only last about seven days. The flu can last up to two weeks. It is much more likely to develop into a serious illness and require hospitalization. -------------------------------fatigue: great tiredness (from McVeigh & Bixby, in press) respiratory: related to breathing stuffy: blocked, making it hard to breathe

During-reading activity: Keep an important question in mind

During-reading activity: Re-read to find details

Post-reading activity: Critical analysis and evaluation

Post-reading activity: Critical analysis and evaluation

In which lines of the reading does the author give factual information? In which lines does the author give her opinion? What clues tell you it is her opinion?

Post-reading activity: Reflection and integration

Post-reading activity: Reflection and integration

Do you agree with the author that technology is bad for human relationships? Why or why not? Write a paragraph giving your own opinion about the topic. Use quotations from the text to support your ideas.

Principle: Focus attention on vocabulary development skills

How many words are in a large dictionary? a. 65,000 b. 90,000 c.115,000 d.267,000

How many words are in a large dictionary? a. 65,000 b. 90,000 c.115,000 d.267,000

How many words does a native speaker know? a. 5,000 b. 10,000 c. 20,000 d. 40,000

How many words does a typical native speaker know? a. 5,000 b. 10,000 c. 20,000 d. 40,000

How many words does a native speaker know? a. 5,000 b. 10,000 c. 20,000 d. 40,000

How many words does a language learner need to know?

How many words does a language learner need to know?

A very large number. (Nation 2001)

What level of reading vocabulary is fun, challenging, or frustrating for students?

What level of reading vocabulary is fun, challenging, or frustrating for students?

98% of words 95% of words <90% of words

fun challenging frustrating

Vocabulary Development Activities

Using a dictionary Recognizing word forms Identifying affixes and roots Understanding collocations Guessing meaning from context

Not all vocabulary words are created equal

Principle: Explicitly teach strategies

Strategy: Monitor comprehension

Filling in a graphic organizer

Traditional journalism

Citizen journalism

Monitor comprehension: underlining

Interactive processing

Download copies of handout and PowerPoint slides (minus copyrighted materials) at

www.joemcveigh.org/resources

Thank you !